Better
by SP22
Summary: Nighwing, Kid Flash, Artemis and Batgirl are sent on a covert mission. Dick wanted Zatanna to go, but instead gets stuck with Barbara. Babs thinks he still has feelings for Zatanna but little does she know, Dick has always had a special place in his heart for Barbara. Summary sucks, guys, just read it! Some Spitfire


Batgirl (Barbara Gordon/Babs/BG)

Nightwing (Richard/Dick Grayson)

Kid Flash (Wally West/KF)

Artemis

all characters copyright to DC comics.

-Dec 6th 2014 6:00 a.m Hall of Justice-

Nightwing stood in the debriefing room anxiously waiting for Batman to assign the team for a very important undercover mission.

"Nightwing" Batman began with his usual stern tone that instinctively cause Nightwing to straighten his spine. "You're going to take the lead on this mission."

He pulled up a holographic screen that displayed several newspaper clippings and camera shots.

"Professor Ivo is believed to be conducting some unknown experiments in the woods. We have picked up signs of unusual radioactivity in these locations". Batman pointed to a map of a woodland area about 200 miles out of Gotham City.

"Your mission is to see what Ivo is up to and report back to the league. You are to avoid any unnecessary confrontations with Ivo. He is believed to be working on some form of advanced weaponry for a dangerous unknown client."

Nightwing gave an affirmative nod. Covert operations were his specialty, but success of a covert mess ion relied heavily on the team that he was assigned to lead. For example, Superboy was not as ideal as M'gaan when it came to being stealthy. The team learned that the hard way.

"Accompanying you on this mission will be Kid Flash, Artemis and…. Batgirl."

'Batgirl?' Nightwing thought to himself. But he had particularly requested that Zatanna be assigned to this mission with him. Why had Batman denied this request?'

"Batgirl?" Nightwing shook his head in confusion. "But Zatanna was supposed to… I requested her to come on this mission.."

The young teenager was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't notice that Batgirl had entered the room only seconds earlier, along with KF and Artemis.

'That stung, Grayson' Batgirl thought to herself. She knew Nightwing and Zatanna had a fling, but she had convinced herself that it had ended, that she and him… maybe.. had a chance now. 'I guess I was wrong'. The redhead clenched her fists as she grabbed her gear and threw it over her shoulder. Emotions had no place right before a mission, she would have to suck it up and revisit these feelings later. She was a hero first, that's how Batman taught her to be.

"Batgirl reporting for duty sir." She sarcastically saluted Nightwing. (Okay, some emotions BG really couldn't hide very well.)

It was then that Nightwing had realized the words he had just spit out. Words that Batgirl undoubtably heard, judging by her more prevalent sassiness than usual. He bit is lower lip, cursing himself. 'I didn't… mean it… it's not like that…' But Nightwing couldn't say any of that now, not without Batman criticizing him for prioritizing social matters over a mission. It would have to wait. 'Please, BG, don't be angry.' He let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, this is going to be awkward…" Artemis mumbled as she grabbed her gear.

"Aww man, this is gonna blow!" Wally threw his head back and ran his fingers through his spiky read hair. He shot his best friend a glance that could be interpreted as 'What the heck were you thinking man!?'

Nightwing replied with a glance that said something like 'I don't even know bro!'

"Let's get this over with." Batgirl said in a cold tone.

Artemis mounted her motorcycle and secured her gear to the back, she also secured Wally's gear to her bike, since the speedster was going to be traveling on foot and didn't need the extra weight.

Batgirl also mounted her own motorcycle. Usually on missions she and Nightwing rode together, but by her choosing to ride solo, Nightwing figured he better give her space.

Before the team departed, Batman gave them one final instruction. "You will all need to maintain radio silence. Ivo is sure to detect any interference and track you down if you do. Since you won't have M'gaan to provide you with a telepathic link, I suggest you divide up into pairs and stay close at all times."

"I call dibs on you sweet cheeks." Wally winked at Artemis before he sped off, leaving the team in his dust.

"Show off." she smirked. She then shot Batgirl a concerned look. With Wally and Artemis being paired up, that meant that Batgirl and Nightwing would inevitably be paired together and it was clear to see the two were experiencing some awkward tension. Batgirl simply looked down, covering her face quickly with her helmet before speeding off.

The entire drive was silent, the three teens were spread out further than usual, particularly Batgirl and Nightwing who would usually joke back and forth, subconsciously flirting with each other. But Batgirl seemed to be making a conscious effort to gun it every time Nightwing came up too close behind her. All Nightwing could do was sigh and hope that he got a chance to talk to her before this got worse.

Two hours later and the team arrived at their base camp. It looked just like the other cabins they had passed on the road several miles back, only this one was bullet proof and came equipped with it's own super computer, zeta tube and underground weaponry room which included it's own helicopter.

"There sure is more than meets the eye." Artemis said as she walked into the cabin.

"That's Batman for you." Batgirl and Nightwing spoke in unison. They looked at each other, then Batgirl scoffed at him and turned to face the others. The two of them had frequented this cabin many times before, but Artemis and Wally were first time guests.

Wally, who had arrived about an hour and a half earlier was sprawled out on the couch with a bored grin on is face. "Man you guys are slow. I even took my time and still got here before you slow pokes."

"Oh the advantages of breaking the sound barrier, eh Wally?" Nightwing rebutted.

"Now what?" Asked artemis, unloading her gear, prepping her bow for action.

"We wait." Batgirl said calmly.

Artemis' arms lowered in disappointment. She and Wally were both not the biggest fans of 'stealth missions' because 'stealth' was just a code word for 'sit there and do nothing for a really long time.'

"We don't need to go looking for trouble, if trouble finds us, then we act." Nightwing further explained.

"All hail the great leader, prophet boy wonder…" Batgirl mumbled under her breath. It did not go unheard by any of her teammates. Wally and Artemis were fighting back chuckles. Barbara happened to be really good at sarcasm, especially when it was fueled by her sassiness towards authority figures.

"Did you say something Batgirl?" Nightwing clenched his jaw. He knew damn well what she said, but her attitude was really starting to tick him off.

"Oh no nothing sir!" She said, throwing him another sarcastic salute.

Nightwing let out a growl. "I'm going to go collect some firewood." He was about to reach the door when he heard Wally's voice from behind him.

"Remember what Batman said, never leave without your buddy." His face dressed with his signature stupid grin.

Both Batgirl and Nightwing shot him a death glare. But KF had a point. Even though Batman was likely never to find out, the slightest risk of him discovering that they disobeyed one of his most important rules was a risk too big for them to take.

First, they changed out of their usual flashy costumes and into something a little bit more casual. Batgirl was now just Barbara Gordon again. She opted for black leggings that were thickly lined to keep her warm, a long-sleeved thermal shirt covered by a black windbreaker jacket, a yellow beanie and black hiking boots. Nightwing, now Dick, chose dark washed jeans, A black, hooded sweatshirt covered by a navy blue snowboarding jacket and black and grey hiking boots.

Though they were reluctant to do so, the two of them stepped out of the cabin and into the cold winter air.

Artemis turned to Wally and punched him in the arm. "You dummy! Why would you throw Batgirl into an awkward situation with Dick like that? You know they're on bad terms right now."

"Babe, you haven't known BG for very long, but hers and Dick's relationship is… well… complicated."

"How so?"

"Well you see, everyone knows they secretly love each other and that they're destined to end up together. Sometimes they just need a little push."

"And this is based on what evidence?" Artemis asked skeptically. Wally turned to her, staring her directly in the eyes. "It's all in the way they look at each other."

"Uh, I don't know, they looked kind of pissed of, don't you think?"

"Yeah, everyone knows that's a sign of true love." Wally stretched his arms over his head and put his feet up on the couch.

All Artemis could do was roll her eyes and frown. Only further proving Wally's point.

The frigid air seemed to cool Dick's heated temper. He forgot how much he really loved being out here. It had been a good 5 years since he and Barbara had been to this old place. Nothing, changed, the trees were still time same, perhaps a bit taller. The lake a bit shallower and covered with a thick later of ice, but all and all it was the same as it had always been.

Dick put his hands behind his head as he began walking into the forest. Barbara followed quietly behind him.

He let out a deep sigh "Do you remember the first summer we came out here?" he chuckled. She didn't respond.

"Feels like another life time." He stretched out his arms, looking back at her, but still, she refused to respond.

Dick thought, this might be the best opportunity he had to explain himself to Barbara.

"Babs?" He turned slowed down, walking side by side with her now. She kept her gaze forward.

"I know you're mad. It's written all over your face and I think I know why."

"When I requested Zatanna to come on this mission it wasn't because I thought-"

"Shut up!" Barbara whispered quickly, turning her attention to a rustle coming from a near by bush.

Dick failed to catch on. "Hey listen, I'm getting real tired of your attitude-"

Barbara slammed her palm over her mouth to silence him. "I said shut up you idiot!" Barbara pulled out a handgun from underneath her jacket she dropped to one knee and fired a shot directly into the bush.

"What the heck are you doing with that!?" Dick yelled, baffled by what he had just seen as he watched Barbara run to the bush.

To his surprise, he saw her pull out one of Professor Ivo's infamous monkey robots. She had shot it right in it's 'head' powering it down. She opened up the robot and retrieved a small microchip from inside.

"It looks like one of Ivo's little robots caught wind of our location. Luckily with this one powered down, it won't be able to give away our location." She looked down at her hands "This chip should be all the information we need on the weapon Ivo is building for his secret client."

"Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that!?" Ignoring whatever else she just said.

"GCPD's annual father daughter hunting trips." She said smugly, tossing the chip in the air and catching it again.

"Just when I think I've got you figured out, Barbara Gordon, you surprise me with something like this." He had a dreamy grin on his face. In a strange way, watching her handle that gun and take such initiative was a turn on to Dick. She had always been a great team member, but he had never seen her perform like this.

"Yeah, I bet Houdini with boobs can't shoot like that." She scoffed. "Despite what you think, I was qualified for this mission. THAT'S why Batman assigned me and not her." She turned to walk back toward the cabin when Dick grabbed her hand.

"It wasn't like that." He spoke softly, ashamed of how he had unknowingly belittled her.

"Believe me, if I could chose anyone to be by my side on a mission, it would be you. Ten times out of ten."

She blushed, followed by a fake shiver, hoping he would chalk it up as being the cold weather.

"But I just thought that if I got some closure with Zatanna I could really feel confident about moving on. I know she wasn't the best choice. That was my fault. I let my personal agenda get mixed up with my role as leader."

"Well, I'm glad you see that now." She tried to pull her arm away, but he pulled her in closer, much closer. Their faces were only centimeters apart. Barbara's eyes widened like that of a deer.

"I just hope that you know that you are the most important girl in my life Babs, and that won't ever change."

She couldn't disguise her blush now. Her face was about to explode from all the blood rushing to her cheeks. She actually thought she might faint, but it was hard to lose her ground when Dick was holding her in his arms.

'It's like I bumped my head and woke up in a Danielle Steel novel!' She thought as his lips inched closer and closer to hers.

'ohmygodohmygodohmygod' was all she could think as his lips delicately grasped her own. His grip on the kiss became increasingly more firm when he realized that she was kissing back. When he broke the kiss to look at her, he saw only a flash of green from her eyes and red from her cheeks before she turned around.

"Y-you should uh really get some uh firewood Grayson. I'm gonna go do the thing with the computer chip. You know, uh, tech stuff…" Her voice trailed off as she awkwardly sprinted for the cabin, feeling dizzy and uncontrollably giddy as she ran.

Dick chuckled, running his hand through his hair as he looked around for some branches and twigs.

Barbara flung open the front door to the cabin with excessive force. She wasn't angry. Just extremely flustered, judging by her flushed face and wide eyed daze. Artemis, reading her expression clear as day, acted quickly.

"Uh, hey Wally, why don't you go help Nightwing with the firewood." She pushed him off the couch and out the door. He glanced at her in confusion but she responded with a look that told him he better just shut up and do it if he knows what's good for him. (The nonverbal communication skills are on point with this team.)

Wally mumbled under his breath as he closed the door behind him.

"You okay?" Artemis asked Barbara, motioning her to sit on the couch beside her.

"Artemis…" Barbara took a seat, a shocked look still frozen on her face. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course!" She smiled over at Barbara with a bit of concern.

"I- I know we're not really that close. Not like you and M'gaan anyway, but I hope you don't mind-"

"Dick kissed you, didn't he?" Artemis smirked.

"H-How did you know!?" Barbara turned to face the blond archer with surprise.

"You have it written all over your face!" She chuckled.

Barbara let out a forced chuckle of her own.

"So?" Artemis continued. "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I don't know yet. Dick and I have known each other for so long. I was beginning to think this was never going to happen…"

"So it sounds like you wanted it to happen."

"I-I don't know. I mean, I guess. I just wasn't expecting it." Barbara Shrugged.

"Sounds romantic!" Artemis encouraged. She was beginning to gain a little more insight into Dick and Barbara's dynamic relationship.

Barbara giggled, recalling that the kiss had been followed by Dick witnessing her shooting a firearm for the first time.

"You know, in a weird way, it sort of was."

"So… what happens now?" Artemis asked

Barbara buried her face in her hands, "I don't know! This complicates everything!"

"Barbara…" Artemis said sternly. Barbara looked up to meet her gaze. "I think you should go for it!"

Barbara shot her a warm smile. "Call me Babs." She said.

The two girls then continued to talk and exchange funny and embarrassing stories about Dick and Wally.

_Meanwhile, outside._

Wally treaded through the snow, he hated the cold. He huffed as he noted his breath was visible in the cold air.

"Hey you doofus!" Wally called out to Dick, who was picking up various sticks and logs in the distance.

"What did you do to make Barbara so upset?"

Dick gave Wally a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"She walked into the cabin looking like she had seen a ghost!"

Dick looked down at his feet, feeling a bit ashamed. His heart sunk in his chest at the thought that Barbara was disgruntled by their kiss.

"What did you do to her?" Wally asked.

"Nothing!" Dick snapped, "Well, I mean, not on purpose anyway."

Wally shot Dick a confused grin.

"I kissed her Wally! I don't know why I did it, it just sort of happened!" Dick was beginning to sound panicked. In the moment it felt so right. And he could have sworn he felt her kiss back, but maybe she didn't feel the same way about it that he did. He had known Barbara for so long, he was devastated at the thought of ruining their relationship over one kiss.

Wally began to bust out in laughter. Dick didn't quite follow. "What do you mean you don't know why you did it? It's obvious you like her!"

"I-it is?" Dick felt the blood rush to his cheeks.

"Heck, I've known that you've had the hots for her since the first day I met you. I'm surprised it's taken you this long to finally make a move." He patted his friend on the back.

"Yeah," Dick let out a sigh. "But it sounds like she doesn't feel the same way."

Wally saw the look in Dick's eyes turn sad. "It's hard to say, they kicked me out of the cabin so they could have their 'girl talk' and I was forced to freeze by butt out here with you."

"Girl talk?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, who knows what they could be talking about." Wally said in a dazed tone.

"We should get back there!" Dick sounded concerned at the thought of this 'girl talk', he began hastily making his way back to the cabin.

"Whatever you say… lover boy!" Wally chuckled to himself as he followed Dick back.

He opened the door to the sound of laughter coming from the two girls. When the girls noticed him come in, they tried to muffle their giggles and keep a straight face. It was hard for Artemis, considering Barbara had just shared with her some of Dick's most embarrassing stories, but she managed to do so long enough for Wally to walk in the door behind him.

"Hey Wally," She called over to him. "I'm getting really tired, what do you say we go to bed a little early tonight?" She said, giving him a seductive wink. Wally didn't even need to respond. He sped over to her, picking her up bridal style and carrying her down the hall to one of the bedrooms. Artemis shot Barbara an encouraging smile before she was carried off at the speed of sound.

This left Dick and Barbara alone in the living room. At first it was silent. Dick began assembling the firewood into the fireplace. Barbara walked into the kitchen, returning after a few moments with two cups of hot chocolate in hand. By then, Dick had a nice roaring fire going.

"Here" Barbara said, handing him one of the cups. "You must be cold."

"Thanks" He said, unzipping his coat and breathing into his hands for warmth. Barbara took a seat on one end of the couch and Dick on the other. There were several more moments of silence between the two. It wasn't until they both heard some unusual noises coming from the bedroom down the hall that Dick felt obligated to speak.

"Babs." He began, as his words began to lump up "I- I just want you to know that I meant what I said back there."

She parted her lips to respond but Dick continued.

"You mean a lot to me. And I mean like a lot." He wasn't the best with words, but he was trying.

"I just want you to know how I feel. And know that I respect how you feel, even if it's not the same way." He was beginning to talk faster and faster, his words getting jumbled in the process.

"And maybe kissing you was a stupid thing to do, but I don't want it to jeopardize everything that we have-"

Barbara calmly placed her hand over his. Stopping his thoughts in their tracks.

"I don't think that it was stupid." She spoke softly. Dick blushed, feeling the heat from her hands over his icy fingertips.

"Do you know how long I've wanted you to kiss me like that?" She asked him, beginning to blush herself.

"Really?" He asked, inching closer to her end of the couch.

"Yeah, though all that mental preparation didn't prepare me for the moment when it actually happened. I froze. I freaked out a little."

A sigh of relief came from Dick's mouth. "You had _me_ freaked out. I thought maybe I had scared you off for good." He let out a chuckle.

"After all we've been through together, Dick, you really think a stupid kiss is gonna scare me off?" She reassured him, stroking his hand softly.

Another brief moment of silence passed before Dick spoke again.

"So… Was the kiss everything you hoped it would be?"

"No" She stated simply.

"O-oh…" Dick wasn't anticipating that response. He began reflecting on the kiss, what he might have done wrong, until Barbara's words pulled him from his thoughts.

"I think you can do much better than that!" She shot him a sly smirk.

He chuckled in relief. Hearing those words were all the encouragement he needed. He closed the final gap between them on the couch and captured her chin in his hand.

"Watch me." He whispered.

His kiss was more firm than before as he reached his hand up behind Barbara's head, running his fingers through her hair and deepening their kiss. He licked her lips and she invited him in to play and explore her mouth further. She let out a soft moan into the kiss, which only encouraged him to continue. He nibbled slightly on her bottom lip, his hands now holding her waist.

Their make out session continued for about twenty minutes. It involuntarily ended when Wally and Artemis emerged from their room, Artemis wobbled a little before grabbing onto Wally's arm for support.

"See babe? I told you they were meant to be together."

Artemis just smirked and grabbed a fist full of Wally's hair, kissing him and guiding him back to the bedroom.

Dick and Barbara both blushed and looked up awkwardly at each other.

"Better?" Dick asked

"Better." Said Barbara.

Am I the only one secretly wondering about the juicy gossip stories that Artemis and Babs are sharing about Dick and Wally? If someone decided to write about that… I would probably love you forever.

Sorry the ending was kind of rushed. May change later, but I wanted to update for you guys!


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